What can I do with a linguistics major after graduation?

(1) Jobs

One area that may interest some number of linguistics majors is teaching English as a Second Language overseas. If you are interested in pursuing this, in addition to the regular required courses for the major, it is critical that you take the following courses (check with your advisor about pre- or co-requisites):

It is also very highly recommended that you take:

Some places you can go on the web to find out more information on overseas ESL jobs are:
(Note: Inclusion here does not constitute endorsement by the Linguistics Department or The University of Iowa)

Other teaching opportunities worth exploring include the Peace Corps and Teach America.

In industry, there are a number of companies that regularly hire people with linguistics degrees (especially if they have some kind of computational background). They include Microsoft, Xerox, Apple, Hewlett Packard, Silicon Valley start ups, and other high-tech companies. Such jobs can be exciting, cutting edge research that pays well to boot. Such companies also often have summer jobs for undergrads and beginning grads which can be an excellent first step on the road to a secure career.

Another area that may interest some people is government work such as being a Special Agent Linguist for the FBI. With a linguistics major plus fluency in some language, you become quite attractive for that sort of work. The local field office can provide you with information about applying for such jobs; the address is:

Federal Bureau of Investigation
10755 Burt St.
Omaha, NE 68114

The FBI also hires Forensic Document Analysts to work at the National Crime Lab in Washington DC; a linguistics major gives you some of the detailed analysis skills that they look for in such positions. For more information about Forensic Document Analysis, take a look at the following book:

Nickell, Joe. 1996. Detecting Forgery. The University Press of Kentucky.

Some useful job search resources on campus:

Both offices provide job search information, counseling and many resources on how to identify what area(s) you're interested in pursuing in your job search; also, assistance in resume/cover letter/interview preparation.

Business and Liberal Arts Placement also provides a series of invaluable workshops on interviewing skills, resume writing, researching companies, internet job searching, etc.

(2) Graduate School

One option, of course, is to go to grad school. In general, an MA will allow you to teach in community colleges in the US, and to teach at a variety of schools and colleges overseas; it will also provide you with training considered useful for various government jobs or jobs such as technical writing. A PhD will qualify you to teach at the college/university level in both the US and overseas, as well as prepare you for various government jobs and jobs in industry. AT&T and IBM, for instance, are companies that have hired people with PhDs in linguistics for research positions, especially if their training has included some amount of computer science and/or a specialization in phonetics.

An MA in linguistics with a concentration/focus in TESOL (or an MA in Applied Linguistics/TESL/TESOL) will qualify you to teach English as a Second Language in the US or overseas. With this degree, you can get a job in the US teaching ESL in intensive ESL programs affiliated with universities/colleges, as well as in academic ESL programs at universities/colleges.

However, you are not restricted to graduate programs in linguistics if you have an undergrad linguistics major. Some fields which generally would not require special preparation for a linguistics major might include the following:


This is not a complete list! Feel free to talk to your advisor, or any other professor in the department, about other areas you're interested in.

Linguistics also lends itself to fields such as Computer Science, but entering a graduate program may require some undergraduate coursework.

Again, though, these are not the only possibilities, though other fields may require some preliminary coursework before admission. But you are encouraged to explore what you find interesting! Don't be hesitant to speak with any of the linguistics faculty about other possible areas for graduate study that interest you: we may be able to refer you to colleagues in those departments who could give you more information, for instance.

Linguistics & Career Resources on the World Wide Web

The advent of Web technology has made available a wide variety of linguistics resources that you can access very easily - information about linguistics, the various subdisciplines of linguistics, graduate programs in linguistics and TESL, jobs in linguistics, language resources...

Of course, you should always feel free to talk to the faculty if you need advice or information - but the following sites may also be helpful.

Linguistics at the University of Iowa webpage

http://www.uiowa.edu/~linguist/

Includes information about the department, faculty, undergraduate and graduate programs, and links to other webpages which provide important information about the field of linguistics, graduate programs in linguistics, and job opportunities for people with a background in linguistics.

Links from the Department homepage to linguistically relevant websites

http://www.uiowa.edu/~linguist/lx-sites.html

The Linguistic Society of America webpage

http://www.lsadc.org/

Contains information about the LSA, the professional organization for linguists in North America (though the membership roles include linguists all over the world), the field of linguistics, and publications of the LSA. Of particular relevance is the on-line brochure "The Field of Linguistics":

http://www.lsadc.org/flxtoc.html

This publication describes the major branches of linguistics, including applied linguistics, neurolinguistics, computational linguistics and sociolinguistics.

The Linguist List homepage

http://linguistlist.org/

An outstanding collection of linguistics links can be found at this site, including links to the homepages of graduate programs in linguistics, both here and abroad. This is a good place to find information about how to apply to a particular program, what the degree requirements may be, who is on the faculty, what kinds of courses are offered...

Job announcements for linguistics and TESL jobs may be accessed from this page, via the link http://linguistlist.org/jobsindex.html.

Furthermore, there are links to the homepages of various professional organizations for linguists, at http://linguistlist.org/associations.html.

There are also links to pages from which you can obtain IPA fonts, linguistically-relevant software, and basically loads of other stuff.

Back to the Linguistics Department

Revised 24 November 1997